Bush Says, My Way or No Way - That's Frightening
by Jim Moore

02/20/2003

Tell you the truth I'm scared. 

No, not for myself. I'm old enough not to worry about going to war, or living in fear of terrorism, or getting shot in an alley somewhere. I'll most likely be dead when the real action starts (World War III). 

So why do I shudder when, asked whether Saddam Hussein should be confronted with a final ultimatum, Bush answers: "He knows my feelings. He needs to disarm."? 

HIS feelings? Since when is a decision to push America into a bloody war prompted by one man's feelings--even a president's-- rather than by analyzed facts and objective discourse. And Congressional approval, to make it at least halfway legal.

Bush's "feely" statement is one of many which have seeped through the down-home facade of this Marlboro Man, to gradually reveal a rigid, uncompromising, egocentric mindset about doing things HIS way (including going to war) to the exclusion of all other ways.

That "my way" mindset, I submit, is why President Bush is able, with impunity, to brush aside, or not be influenced by, the huge anti-war protest of millions of concerned people around the world. 

And, as if this international show of anti-war hands weren't enough to give Bush pause, he has the stultifying temerity to call this world-wide protest "well-intentioned, but irrelevant"-the equivalent of a marketing "focus group"---which clearly demonstrates what our president thinks of his fellow Americans' opinion.

"You know," mused Bush, "the size of protests is like deciding, well, I'm going to decide policy based upon a focus group. The role of a leader is to decide policy based upon security-in this case, the security of the people." 

He said this, mind you, as he sends 20,000 more troops to the Persian Gulf, to join the 150,000 American troops already there, but refuses to close our borders to keep out illegal aliens who are devastating our Southwest, draining the resources of our social services, and opening the door to potential terrorists. Hooray for security.

Well, I have news for Mr. Bush. As a creative advertising writer for some 30 years I think I know something about focus groups, having been involved in plenty of them. And I can tell you this: if multi-billion-dollar corporations and their advertising agencies didn't see focus groups as being an effective tool in determining public opinion, they would have canned the idea years ago.

A focus group, simply put, is playing a TV commercial to a random gathering of disinterested viewers (much like a jury), and getting their positive or negative comments on it, then either discarding the commercial, or using it, depending on the reactions they get.

What does this mean in terms of the president? It means that when Bush calls a major portion of the population's opinion "irrelevant", the equivalent of a "focus group", you can bet the farm that (l) he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. (2) he has no respect for the average American's opinion, (3) he has no intention of backing off, or even reconsidering his preemptive strike" agenda, and (4) he intends to do it HIS way, or no way. Period

I also find it amusing that President Bush, in planning to attack Iraq unilaterally, is also in the process of thumbing his nose at the United Nations. This is the same United Nations, mind you, that many Americans (including this writer) long ago advocated kicking out of our country because of its anti-American, socialistic promotion of a World Government.

Which I find ironic in itself, given that our political "globalists" were enamored with the idea of having the UN's prestigious, high-rise headquarters located in New York City, the cradle of America's financial power and free enterprise.

So you know what I think, Mr. President? It's an either-or situation. Either some faction has you in their pocket, or you're just a nice, not-too-bright guy with an ego on overload.

Either way, for a president leading a nation, that's scary. And I don't scare easy.

Jim Moore
Jmoore1819@aol.com

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